Efficient size optimization of visual information or auditory information

ABSTRACT

A file, including visual information or auditory information may be uploaded to a processing device. Respective portions of content of the file may be identified for compressing and saving at respective bit rates. A number of component files may be created, compressed and saved, at the respective bit rates, based on the identified respective portions of content of the file. A network page, including a reference to the uploaded file, may be created. The reference to the uploaded file, in the network page, may be replaced with references to the compressed, saved component files and the network page may be saved. A processing device of a user may request the network page and the compressed, saved component files. A reasonable facsimile of the file may be reproduced based on an aggregate of the compressed, saved component files.

This application claims priority to and is a continuation application ofcopending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/186,518, filed in the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office on Aug. 6, 2008.

BACKGROUND

Websites are designed to favorably impress viewers by providinginteractive visual, as well as auditory, experiences. When building awebsite, a website designer considers an amount of visual data, as wellas auditory data, to be transferred. A large amount of data may cause aweb page to load slowly, thereby degrading a user's website experience.A large amount of data may also increase storage costs and bandwidthconsumption.

Some website designers have increased compression ratios for visualassets to be presented by the website. As a result, a user may observejagged edges around presented visual data, posterization, or othernoticeable loss in image quality. Increasing compression ratios forauditory assets by the website may cause a noticeable loss in audioquality. As a result, a user's website experience may be negativelyaffected.

SUMMARY

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that is further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In a first embodiment consistent with the subject matter of thisdisclosure, a processing device may identify respective portions of afile, including visual information or audio information, suitable forcompressing and saving at different bit rates. Component files may becreated, based on the identified respective portions, and compressed andsaved at the different bit rates. A second processing device may requesta copy of the compressed and saved component files. The secondprocessing device may render, or produce, a reasonable facsimile of thefile based on the compressed and saved component files.

In some embodiments, a processing device may create a network page,including a reference to the file. The reference to the file may includeinformation indicating a location from which a copy of the file may beobtained. The processing device may replace the reference to the filewith references to the compressed and saved component files. Thereferences to the compressed and saved component files may includeinformation indicating one or more locations from which copies of thecompressed and saved component files may be obtained. The network pagemay then be saved. A processing device of a user may request a copy ofthe network page and the compressed and saved component files. The copyof the network page and the compressed and saved component files may betransferred to the processing device of the user via a network. Theprocessing device of the user may render, or produce, a reasonablefacsimile of the file based on the compressed and saved component files.

DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the above-recited and otheradvantages and features can be obtained, a more particular descriptionis described below and will be rendered by reference to specificembodiments thereof which are illustrated in the appended drawings.Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments andare not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope,implementations will be described and explained with additionalspecificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment for embodimentsconsistent with the subject matter of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of an exemplary processingdevice, which may be used to implement embodiments consistent with thesubject matter of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary process for creatingcompressed component files from an uploaded file and replacing, within anetwork page, a reference to the uploaded file with references to thecompressed component files.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary process for creatingcomponent files from an uploaded file and compressing and saving thecomponent files at particular bit rates

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary process for creatingcomponent image files from an image.

FIGS. 6-8 illustrate an original image, a low-bitrate compressed image,and a high-bit rate compressed image, respectively, consistent with thesubject matter of this disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary process for creatingcomponent audio files from an audio file.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary process forreproducing a reasonable facsimile of visual information or auditoryinformation from compressed component files which were created from afile including the visual information or the auditory information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments are discussed in detail below. While specificimplementations are discussed, it is to be understood that this is donefor illustration purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant artwill recognize that other components and configurations may be usedwithout parting from the spirit and scope of the subject matter of thisdisclosure.

Overview

A method and a system are provided for efficiently optimizing a size ofvisual information or auditory information. A number of component filesmay be created from a file including the visual information or theauditory information. Each of the components files may include only aportion of content of the file and may be compressed using a differentcompression method. A reasonable facsimile of the file may be reproducedbased on an aggregate of the compressed component files.

In one embodiment, a file may include an image. Portions of the imagemay be identified as portions capable of being compressed and saved atrespective bit rates, such that a reasonable facsimile of the respectiveportions of the image may be reproduced from compressed portions.Component image files may be created based only on respective identifiedportions of the image. The component image files may be compressed andsaved at the respective bit rates. A reasonable facsimile of the imagemay be reproduced based on an aggregate of the component image files.

In a second embodiment, a file may include audio data. Portions of theaudio data may be identified as portions capable of being compressed andsaved at respective bit rates, such that a reasonable facsimile of therespective portions of the audio data may be reproduced. Component audiofiles may be created based only on the respective identified portions ofthe audio data. The component audio files may be compressed and saved atthe respective bit rates. A reasonable facsimile of the audio file maybe reproduced based on an aggregate of the component audio files.

A network page may be defined as a webpage that may exist on a network,such as, for example, the World Wide Web or another network. In a thirdembodiment, a created network page, may include a reference to a fileincluding auditory information or visual information. The reference tothe file may include information indicating a location from which a copyof the file may be obtained. The file may be uploaded to a processingdevice, which may create a number of component files based on theuploaded file. Each of the component files may be based only onrespective portions of the auditory information or the visualinformation and may be compressed differently than others of thecomponent files. In the created network page, the reference to the filemay be replaced with references to the component files. The referencesto the component files may include information indicating one or morelocations from which copies of the component files may be obtained.Subsequently, when a processing device of a user requests the creatednetwork page, the component files may be provided to the processingdevice of the user, such that a reasonable facsimile of contents of thefile may be reproduced and less bandwidth than conventional methods maybe used to transfer the file to the processing device of the user via anetwork.

Exemplary Operating Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment for embodimentsconsistent with the subject matter of this disclosure. The exemplaryoperating environment may include a first processing device 102, asecond processing device 104, and a network 106. Processing devices 102,104 may be connected to each other via network 106.

Network 106 may be a single network or a combination of networks, suchas, for example, the Internet or other networks. Network 106 may includea wireless network, a wired network, a packet-switching network, apublic-switched telecommunications network, a fiber-optic network, othertypes of networks, or any combination of the above.

Processing device 102 may be a desktop personal computer (PC), a laptopor notebook PC, or other type of processing device which may request anetwork page via network 106. Processing device 104 may be a server,server farm, or other type of processing device which may provide anetwork page to a requesting processing device via network 106.

The operating environment of FIG. 1 is only exemplary. Other operatingenvironments may have more or fewer processing devices and/or morenetworks. For example, in some operating environments, additionalprocessing devices may communicate with second processing device 104 vianetwork 106.

Exemplary Processing Device

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary processing device200, which may be used to implement processing device 102 or processingdevice 104 in embodiments consistent with the subject matter of thisdisclosure. Processing device 200 may be a desktop personal computer(PC), a notebook or laptop PC, a server, or other processing device.Processing device 200 may include a bus 210, a memory 230, a read onlymemory (ROM) 240, a communication interface 270, a processor 220, and astorage device 250. Bus 210 may permit communication among components ofprocessing device 200.

Processor 220 may include at least one conventional processor ormicroprocessor that interprets and executes instructions. Memory 230 maybe a random access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storagedevice that stores information and instructions for execution byprocessor 220. Memory 130 may store temporary variables or otherintermediate information used during execution of instructions byprocessor 220. ROM 240 may include a conventional ROM device or anothertype of static storage device that stores static information andinstructions for processor 220. Storage device 250 may include a harddisc and corresponding drive, or other type of data storage device forstoring data and/or instructions for processor 220. Communicationinterface 270 may permit processing device 200 to communicate via anetwork wirelessly, or through a cable.

Processing device 200 may perform functions in response to processor 220executing sequences of instructions contained in a tangiblemachine-readable medium, such as, for example, memory 230, ROM 240,storage device 250 or other media. Such instructions may be read intomemory 230 from another machine-readable medium or from a separatedevice via communication interface 270.

Exemplary Processing

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process, which may beperformed in embodiments consistent with the subject matter of thisdisclosure. The process may begin with a user, such as, for example, anetwork site designer, uploading a file, including visual information orauditory information, from a first processing device to a secondprocessing device (act 302). In some embodiments, the uploaded file maybe compressed while in other embodiments, the uploaded file may not becompressed. The second processing device may then create compressedcomponent files based on the uploaded file (act 304).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for performingact 304 by the second processing device in embodiments consistent withthe subject matter of this disclosure. The process may begin with thesecond processing device identifying a portion of content of the file,such that the identified portion is suitable for compressing and savingat a particular bit rate and reproducing a reasonable facsimile of theidentified portion from the compressed and saved portion (act 402). Inembodiments in which the file is compressed, the second processingdevice may uncompress the file before performing act 402.

All information that does not correspond to the identified portion maythen be removed from the file (act 404). A remainder of content of thefile may be compressed, using a particular compression method, andsaved, at the particular bit rate, as a compressed component file (act406). The second processing device may then determine whether creationof component files is completed by determining whether any otherportions of the content of the file may be identified for compressingand saving at another bit rate (act 410). If no other portions of thecontents of the file may be identified for compressing and saving, thenthe process may be completed. Otherwise, the particular bit rate and theparticular compression method may be changed (act 412) and the file maybe restored to an original form (act 414). The second processing devicemay then repeat acts 402-410.

Alternatively, instead of removing, from the file, all information notcorresponding to an identified portion of content of the file and savinga remainder of the content of the file as a component file. In otherembodiments, only the identified portion of the content of the file maybe copied, compressed using the particular compression method, and savedin a compressed component file, at the particular bit rate.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the exemplary process of act 304,with respect to a file including an image. The process may begin withthe second processing device identifying a portion of content of animage suitable for compressing and saving at a particular bit rate (act502). The second processing device may then remove, from the image, allinformation that does not correspond to the identified portion of theimage (act 504). The second processing device may then compress andsave, at the particular bit rate, a remainder of the image as acomponent image file (act 506). The second processing device may thendetermine whether additional component image files may be created basedon the image by determining whether any other portions of the image maybe identified for compressing and saving at another bit rate (act 510).If no other portions of the image may be identified, then the processmay be completed. Otherwise, the particular bit rate may be changed (act512) and the file may be restored to an original form (act 514). Thesecond processing device may then repeat act 502-510.

Typically, when an image is compressed with a high compression ratio(low bitrate), a reproduction of the image based on the compressed imagemay have jagged edges along an edge of an object appearing the image.Other losses in image quality may also become obvious. FIGS. 6-8illustrate an original image and two component images which may becreated, based on the original image, in embodiments consistent with thesubject matter of this disclosure.

In one embodiment consistent with the subject matter of this disclosure,starting from a center of an object appearing in an image, a largestrectangular area within the object may be identified and saved at alower bitrate to produce a lower bitrate component image. FIG. 7illustrates an exemplary lower bit rate component which may be producedbased on the original image shown in FIG. 6. A portion of the originalimage, not including the portion corresponding to the image of FIG. 7,may be identified and saved at a higher bit rate to produce a higher bitrate component image. FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary higher bit ratecomponent which may be produced based on the original image shown inFIG. 6. In this example, the higher bit rate component image may includea portion of an object, in the image, including edges of the object. Areasonable facsimile of the original image may be reproduced from anaggregate representation of the component images. In many cases, a usermay not detect a difference between the original image and thereasonable facsimile of the original image.

FIG. 9 illustrates exemplary processing of act 304 with respect to anaudio file including auditory information. In one embodiment, theauditory file may include audio from a number of musical instruments.The musical instruments may produce sounds in various frequency ranges.Audio, including some frequency ranges, may be compressed and saved at alow bit rate and subsequently, adequately reproduced from the compressedand saved low bit rate audio. Audio including other frequency ranges maybe compressed and saved at other bit rates, such that a reasonablefacsimile thereof may be reproduced from the compressed and saved audio.In another embodiment, audio data may include audio of one or more humanvoices and audio data including other sounds. A portion of the audiodata including the one or more human voices may be identified,compressed and saved at a high bit rate to produce a high bit ratecomponent audio file. A remainder of the audio file may be compressedand saved at a low bit rate to produce a low bit rate component audiofile.

The process of FIG. 9 may begin with the second processing deviceidentifying a portion of content of an audio file suitable forcompressing and saving at a particular bit rate and reproducing areasonable facsimile thereof (act 902). For example, a portion of thecontent may be identified based on a frequency range of audio includedin the portion of the content. The second processing device may remove,from the audio file, all information not corresponding to the identifiedportion of the audio file (act 904). The second processing device maythen compress, using a particular compression method, and save, at theparticular bit rate, a remainder of the audio file as a component audiofile (act 906). A determination may then be made to determine whetherany other portions of the audio file remain to be identified (act 910).If there are no other portions of the audio file, then the process maybe completed. Otherwise, the particular bit rate and the particularcompression method may be changed (act 912) and the audio file may berestored to an original form (act 914). The second processing device maythen repeat acts 902-910.

Returning to FIG. 3, the user may create a network page including areference to the uploaded file (act 306). The reference to the uploadedfile in the network page may then be replaced with the references to thecompressed component files (act 308). The created network page may thenbe saved (act 310). For example, the created network page may be savedto a storage device accessible by the second processing device oranother processing device.

In some embodiments, the network page may be created by the user using asite editor. A tool may automatically replace the reference to theuploaded file in the network page with the references to the compressedcomponent files when the site editor saves the created network page.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process, which may beperformed in a processing device of a user, when the processing devicerequests the network page. The process may begin with the processingdevice requesting a network page, including references to compressedcomponent files (act 1002). The processing device may then request thecompressed component files (act 1004). Each of the component files maybe compressed using a compression method different from compressionmethods used to compress other component files. The requested componentfiles may then be transferred, or sent, to the processing device of theuser via a network (act 1006). The processing device of the user mayrender an aggregate representation of the compressed component files,thereby producing a reasonable facsimile of an original file, from whichthe component files are based (act 1008).

In some embodiments, when reproducing an image from composite images,placement of the composite images in a produced aggregate image may beaccomplished by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) style properties toplace a low bit rate component as an image background and a high bitrate component as an actual image. Of course, in other embodiments,other methods may be used for the placement of composite images in theproduced aggregate image, such as use of custom software or othermethods.

Miscellaneous

Some of the exemplary embodiments discussed above may create twocompressed component files based on an original file including auditoryinformation or visual information. However, embodiments consistent withthe subject matter of this disclosure are not limited to creating onlytwo compressed component files based on an original file. For example,in other embodiments, a third component file may be produced,compressed, and saved at an intermediate bit rate based on an identifiedportion of the file. In further embodiments, more than three componentfiles may be produced, compressed, and saved at various bit rates basedon corresponding identified portions of the file.

An exemplary method of identifying portions of an image was previouslydiscussed, in which a low bit rate portion of the image is identified bya largest rectangular area which may be created in an object in theimage. In other embodiments, a different shape may be employed, such as,for example, a circle, or other shape. In one embodiment, the shape maybe based on a shape of the object in the image. For example, an objecthaving an irregular shape in an image may have a low bit rate portionhaving the irregular shaped area identified within the object. Theidentified portion may extend to, but not include, edges of the object.In other embodiments, other methods may be employed to identify portionsof a file including visual information to be compressed at particularbit rates. For example, the portions may be identified and separatedbased on color, or other criteria. The visual information may includevideo as well as image data.

Further, in various embodiments, the file may include either visualinformation, audio information, or both visual information and audioinformation. In some of the various embodiments, portions of the audioinformation may be identified and separated based on frequency or othercriteria.

In some embodiments, component files produced from an original file ofvisual and/or auditory information may have a same format. In otherembodiments, the component files produced from the original file mayhave different formats. In such embodiments, one format may be used forcomponent files compressed at one bit rate and another format may beused for component files compressed at a second bit rate. Further, whencreating component image files, one embodiment may create componentimage files having a same outer dimension, or canvas size, to simplifyreconstruction of an image. Another embodiment may create componentimage files having different outer dimensions, or canvas sizes.

CONCLUSION

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, thespecific features and acts described above are disclosed as exampleforms for implementing the claims.

Although the above descriptions may contain specific details, they arenot be construed as limiting the claims in any way. Other configurationsof the described embodiments are part of the scope of this disclosure.Further, implementations consistent with the subject matter of thisdisclosure may have more or fewer acts than as described with respect toFIGS. 3-10, or may implement acts in a different order than as shown.Accordingly, the appended claims and their legal equivalents define theinvention, rather than any specific examples given.

We claim as our invention:
 1. A machine-implemented method forrequesting and rendering compressed visual information or auditoryinformation, the machine-implemented method comprising: requesting, by afirst processing device, a network page from at least one secondprocessing device; receiving the network page by the first processingdevice via a network in response to the requesting the network page, thenetwork page including references to a plurality of compressed componentfiles, each of the plurality of compressed component files being basedon a respective portion of an original file; requesting, by the firstprocessing device, the plurality of compressed component files;receiving the plurality of compressed component files by the firstprocessing device via the network in response to the requesting theplurality of compressed component files; and rendering, by the firstprocessing device, an aggregate representation of the plurality ofcompressed component files to produce a facsimile of the original file.2. The machine-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least two ofthe plurality of compressed component files are compressed at differentbit rates from each other.
 3. The machine-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the plurality of compressed component files are based on animage and are compressed at respective particular bit rates.
 4. Themachine-implemented method of claim 3, wherein a first compressedcomponent file of the plurality of compressed component files, based ona first portion of the original file including a representation of anedge of an object, is compressed at a higher bit rate than a secondcompressed component file, based on a second portion of the originalfile not including the representation of the edge of the object.
 5. Themachine-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the rendering anaggregate representation of the plurality of compressed component filesfurther comprises: using cascading style sheets style properties toplace a low bit rate component as an image background and a high bitrate component as an actual image.
 6. The machine-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of compressed component files are basedon the auditory information.
 7. The machine-implemented method of claim6, wherein a respective content of each of the plurality of compressedcomponent files is based on a respective frequency range.
 8. Aprocessing device comprising: at least one processor; and a memoryconnected to the at least one processor, the memory includinginstructions for the at least one processor to perform a methodcomprising: receiving a network page via a network, the network pageincluding references to a plurality of compressed component files, eachof the plurality of compressed component files being based on arespective portion of an original file; requesting the plurality ofcompressed component files in response to the receiving the networkpage; receiving the plurality of compressed component files via thenetwork in response to the requesting the plurality of compressedcomponent files; and rendering an aggregate representation of theplurality of compressed component files to produce a facsimile of theoriginal file.
 9. The processing device of claim 8, wherein theplurality of compressed component files include auditory information.10. The processing device of claim 9, wherein the plurality ofcompressed component files are compressed at a plurality of bit rates.11. The processing device of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality ofcompressed component files is based on a respective frequency rangeincluded in the original file.
 12. The processing device of claim 9,wherein: a first compressed component file of the plurality ofcompressed component files is based on a first portion of the auditoryinformation including a representation of at least one human voice, asecond compressed component file of the plurality of compressedcomponent files is based on a second portion of the auditory informationnot including the representation of the at least one human voice, andthe first component file is compressed at a higher bit rate than thesecond component file.
 13. The processing device of claim 8, wherein theplurality of compressed component files are based on an image includedin the original file.
 14. The processing device of claim 13, wherein: afirst compressed component file of the plurality of compressed componentfiles is based on a first portion of the image not including arepresentation of an edge of an object and is compressed at a first bitrate, a second compressed component file of the plurality of compressedcomponent files is based on a second portion of the image including therepresentation of the edge of the object and is compressed at a secondbit rate, and the second bit rate is higher than the first bit rate. 15.A processing device comprising: at least one processor; and a memoryincluding instructions for the at least one processor to perform amethod, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of compressedcomponent files via a network, each of the plurality of compressedcomponent files being based on a respective portion of an original fileand being compressed at respective bit rates, a first compressedcomponent file of the plurality of compressed component files beingcompressed at a first bit rate and a second compressed component file ofthe plurality of compressed component files being compressed at a secondbit rate which is different from the first bit rate; and rendering anaggregate representation of the plurality of compressed component filesto produce a facsimile of the original file.
 16. The processing deviceof claim 15, wherein the plurality of compressed component files arebased on respective portions of an image included in the original file.17. The processing device of claim 16, wherein at least one of theplurality of compressed component files that includes a representationof an edge of an object, is compressed at a higher bit rate than atleast one other of the plurality of compressed component files notincluding the representation of the edge of the object.
 18. Theprocessing device of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality ofcompressed component files is based on a respective portion of auditoryinformation included in the original file.
 19. The processing device ofclaim 18, wherein each of the plurality of compressed component files isbased on a respective frequency range included in the original file. 20.The processing device of claim 18, wherein: one of the plurality ofcompressed component files includes a sound of at least one human voice,and the one of the plurality of compressed component files is compressedat a higher bit rate than at least one other of the plurality ofcompressed component files.